Paper webs are generally wound in rolls or coils which can be of considerable size and are currently widely employed in many different fields and especially in the product packaging field. To provide a continuous supply of such a web to a packaging machine, apparatus is known which can carry simultaneously two paper coils; one serving to feed the web while the other is held in reserve. Such apparatus is equipped with a station in which the trailing edge of the coil being depleted is bonded to the leading edge of the reserve coil so the web can be supplied continuously to the packaging machine. Typically, in such prior art apparatus, to enable the trail edge or end of the coil being used to be connected to the leading edge or end of the fresh coil, it is necessary to stop the packaging machinery. This represents a functional drawback of considerable importance as well as a potential source of errors or failures seriously affecting the quality of the subsequent package.